Though tomorrow night’s bantamweight title bout pitting champion Dominick Cruz against challenger Demetrious Johnson headlines the UFC on Versus 6 event, a pivotal co-headliner will support the event.
Heavyweight standouts Pat Barry and Stefan Struve will be the co-main event of the evening. Both men are notable fighters in their division, but their careers have been anything short of a roller coaster ride since entering the Octagon.
Struve is perhaps the more accomplished of the two, garnering an overall record of 21-5, while five of those victories have come under the Zuffa umbrella. At 23 years old, Struve remains a top prospect in the class, but his three career losses in the UFC have already raised question marks.
Knockout defeats at the hands of Junior dos Santos, Roy Nelson and Travis Browne, respectively, have all highlighted his career in the Octagon. Although all men are heavy-hitters, having been rendered unconscious, and violently at that, against those three fighters can be detrimental to Struve’s career moving forward.
At 6’11”, Struve remains the tallest fighter in his division, though his inexperience in the striking realm has been noticed. He has shown heart and a willingness to win. Case in point: the second-round rally against Christian Morecraft. In that bout, “Skyscraper” turned the tide of a first-round wash dominated by Morecraft, before knocking out the 260-pound behemoth just 22 seconds in the second frame.
While the victory was impressive, Struve was later met with an equally impressive loss against the aforementioned Browne, where the Hawaiian was able to seize the moment with a superman punch, folding Struve just over four minutes of the opening round.
While Browne is a considerably tall man at 6’7″, the Dutchman was the one who held a decided reach advantage of five inches. Never did he use his length in order to keep the heavy-hitter at the end of his punch, but instead invited “Hapa” in with short jabs and even shorter hooks.
Unless the Bob Schrieber—a kickboxing legend out of Holland—protege can use his his natural gifts bestowed upon him correctly, Struve may suffer the consequences of ill-executed exchanges and subsequent dramatic defeats.
His career could be cut short as a result, leaving behind a promising future, which because of his impressive submission repertoire, was responsible for 14 of his 21 career victories.
For Pat Barry, he has a lot of natural talent to compete among the elite. Athletic, fast and heavy handed, “HD” has shown in the past that he carries the athletic prowess of any man that eventually can reach the pinnacle of the sport.
However, standing at an underwhelming 5’11” and weighing in regularly at about 240 pounds, he will always be “the little guy” in a field of giants.
The upper echelon of the division is comprised of such stars as Brock Lesnar, Alistair Overeem, Junior dos Santos and champion Cain Velasquez—all of whom have not only experience over the 6-3 pro, but a decided size advantage, all walking over six feet in height, with the larger of the four men cutting down to meet the 265-pound limit.
It’s an obvious decision that Barry has chosen not to make: The heavyweight division is not meant for you. His talents are being wasted against men who, with experience and size, will always win.
Should the K-1 kickboxing veteran ever decide to make a venture down to the 205-pound class, his talents then could truly be recognized against men of equal stature, but not at the same speed as the spitfire in Barry.
Both Struve and Barry remain untapped talents within the sport, but they will only reach the apex of mixed martial arts when they recognize their obvious weaknesses. Neither has shown a want for change, though, that can all shift come Saturday night.
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